Press Room: The Salt Lake Tribune
Woods Cross Considers Novel Neighborhood Plan
Byline: BY BRANDON LOOMIS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
WOODS CROSS -- The kind of ``walk-able neighborhood'' that is becoming the rage in Utah land-use planning circles has made it to the drawing board in Woods Cross.
When the city acquired more than 7 acres of blighted ground just off the Union Pacific tracks in this Davis County suburb, City Council members hoped to build something different from the standard, car-dominated subdivision.
So the city's planning department contacted Salt Lake City-based developer Proterra, fresh off approval of a novel subdivision in Farmington that will cluster town houses and homes on small lots meant to approximate an old-time neighborhood.
What Proterra came up with is Woods Cross Town Center, a proposed mingling of homes and businesses that exhibits many of the quaint, pedestrian-friendly traits that planners along the Wasatch Front are clamoring for.
The proposal puts jobs, shops, parks and a transit stop within walking distance of homes and lofts. It is a return to the pre-World War II mixed developments that groups like Envision Utah say could help alleviate highway congestion and reduce urban sprawl on large lots accessed only by car.
At first, city officials thought about attracting only commercial space to bolster the city's revenues. But landscape designer Gerry Tully of Proterra said the property -- less than a block from City Hall, a small grocery store and a city park -- is an ideal location to create a mixed neighborhood.
``If you're going to have a town center, you have to have people living in close proximity,'' Tully said.
So the plan calls for town houses and perhaps some apartments over street-level shops, restaurants and offices. Such a mixture would be a first in Davis County and a rarity in Utah. And the detached homes, representing 18 of the 50 for-sale units, would have only small side yards and garages approached from a rear lane. Common green space would run along the street.
The plan also reserves space for an office complex and a park that could include a transit stop if an envisioned commuter rail line is run along the Union Pacific route.
Tully unveiled the plan to the City Council on Tuesday. If the city agrees it is a good concept, it may sell the land to Proterra for $300,000. The Proterra plan is the only one the city is currently reviewing for the land.
City Planner Tim Stevens said he solicited Proterra in hopes of developing a plan in line with some of the concepts being explored by Envision Utah, the government-business partnership that is surveying residents to set a preferred growth scenario as northern Utah adds a million people in the next 20 years. In preliminary town meetings, many Envision Utah participants showed a preference for denser neighborhoods with a mixture of housing and businesses and easy access to transit.
``This is kind of an experiment on our part,'' Steven said. ``It's an opportunity for us to try something different.''
The plan got a friendly reception from the City Council on Tuesday, though some members wondered whether the street-level storefronts would be vacant for some time until tenants could be drawn in to cater to the new residential development.
Proterra President Charles Akerlow said some of the space could be leased for residential use until businesses moved in, while others probably would attract lawyers, dentists or beauticians who want to live above their own business.
Some council members wondered how they could approve such a mixed development when their zoning ordinances are designed to separate types of housing and businesses, not integrate them. That is a problem that Envision Utah workshops have raised across the Wasatch Front. Akerlow and Stevens said one solution would be a simple development agreement that makes an exception to the zoning.
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